|
by
Marcia
Yudkin
Getting
invaluable media coverage is a
process I described in my 1994
book, Six Steps to Free Publicity.
Although a lot of the basics in
the process of pursuing publicity
remain the same, many of the finer
points have changed since then. If
you've begun using online
publicity distribution services to
disseminate your releases to the
media, or even if you merely post
press releases on your own site,
you'll get a much greater
publicity return when you modify
releases so that they show up in
online searches performed by your
target audience.
The light bulb went off for me
when I was searching for very
specialized software and came upon
a press release for such a product
rather than the company's regular
marketing copy at its Web site.
Links in the press release led me
to the software manufacturer's Web
site.
It occurred to me that in addition
to the audience of journalists,
editors and producers who had
opted to receive releases in their
areas of interest, press releases
could address the needs of a
second group, the target market
itself who were using search
engines to find specialized
products, services and
information. I researched
techniques that would make a
difference in the findability of
releases through search engines,
and here are the steps that I
discovered.
Search Engine Optimization
for Press Releases
Decide on a keyword phrase that
ties in to the product or service
you are promoting and that people
actually search for. You can
research this conveniently at
Wordtracker.com. For example, some
authorities claim that "media
release" is preferable to
"press release." Yet
since more people search for the
latter term, that's the term I use
for publicity purposes.
Place this phrase into your press
release headline and repeat it
around three times within the body
of your press release. Make sure
you also write out a properly
formed link to your own Web site
(i.e., write "http://www.mydomain.com"
rather than "mydomain.com")
within the text of the release.
Unless the proper name of your
product or service is already
well-known, emphasize its generic
description rather than its name.
For instance, write "proposal
writing software" rather than
"PropWritePro."
Likewise, substitute keyword
phrases for pronouns like
"it" or "its"
to increase their overall
frequency in the release.
Include a subhead, which in turn
includes your keyword phrase, if
your release goes on for more than
three paragraphs. If you would
normally finish off with a subhead
like "About TurboHeadIsland,"
where TurboHeadIsland is the name
of your company, lengthen the
subhead so that it includes your
keyword phrase, for example,
"About Proposal Writing
Software Maker TurboHeadIsland."
Post your release at your own Web
site on its own page, linked from
your home page, in addition to
submitting it to your favorite
press release distribution
service.
An Additional Note on Press
Release Optimization
Although these steps may appear
simple, they are not intuitive or
natural for anyone with experience
in writing traditional press
releases. Let's suppose you were
launching a rental boat service in
Truro, Massachusetts, which is on
Cape Cod. Tourists would be much
more likely to use "Cape
Cod" as a search term than
"Truro," so the former
is what should be repeated. And
particularly if you happen to know
Cape Cod, if you were not
consciously writing for search
engines, you would probably use
"Cape Cod" only once and
then revert to "the
Cape," which wouldn't help
enough when people are typing in
"Cape Cod boat rental."
Assuming you've chosen your
keyword phrases wisely, enjoy
increased visibility from Internet
users finding your press release
through search engines for months
and even years to come!
Marcia
Yudkin, author of
Poor Richard's Web Site
Marketing Makeover,
Powerful,
Painless Online Publicity
and numerous other books and
reports,
creates publicity plans and
campaigns for small and
medium-sized organizations and
individuals.
Write her at marcia@yudkin.com
More
Articles | Submit
Your Article | PR
Subjects
About
Public Relations Homepage
Contact Us
|
